I have not read a book as consistently as I have ‘The Proudest Day’, India’s long road to Independence by Anthony Read and David Fisher, in recent years. There was of course “Gone with the Wind” and Ali’s biography which were equally involving as was Nixon’s. But this one has had me engrossed somewhat frighteningly. A history of times gone by, detailed by some authentic deliberations on fact, gets you thinking on many aspects of what we observe and perceive now. Gets you thinking on several facets of our existence and the issues that we face as a nation as a community as a society. I see many incidents that became turning points in our lives connected to what history had to to say about it. No. History does not have anything to say about it, but what transpired then does reflect at times on what transpires now. And what transpires now is at times baffling to the newcomer because he has no knowledge of the past. And this I would like to believe is the problem of every problem - lack of knowledge and circumstance.

Ideally I would have liked to have marked a few instances from the book and reproduced them, but I am still only at the beginning and do wish that when I complete it there shall be ample occasion to quote and expand on many issues.

Palatial spaces, affluent design, magnanimous structure can become an overwhelming experience for any mortal. But when you think back on history and the effort and time spent in constructing what would have been overwhelming and extensively large and ominous, you wonder whether all the largeness had motive behind it. And I feel yes, yes it did. Just as any excess overwhelms one, so also the excess of the forts and palaces of the past were designed to overwhelm the oppressor or the visitor. How else would the feeling of respect and awe be built for the ruler or the conquerer. The idea I would like to believe was not merely a living space that had the capacity to initiate a French or Russian Revolution, but a space to overwhelm the visitor, to make him gasp in amazement, to make him feel small, infinite, in the presence of a company that languished in this show of grandeur.

And the more you visit such destinations the more one marvels at the extent of the imagination of those that expressed desire to build what they did build. In our profession when at times a bizarre film is made, we often joke with the maker as to what it was that he had been drinking. But here in these extraordinary visuals and immensely ornate environs what can we ask ? It is beyond any drinking that may have been consumed !!!

May God bless those that had the madness to think of such construct and may the Lord bless those that had the patience and time to see it fructify. It is there in every corner of the globe. The magnificence of creativity, the beauty of imagination and the perseverance of execution. Nothing quite like those days ever came back and shall never will, but we must dwell and appreciate the existence of the times and the contributions made for us to admire and live by.

In a few days it will be Muscat in the Kingdom of Oman and the International Film Festival, where there shall be decoration for a Lifetime of Achievement. And as I busy myself in counting how many such achievements I may have received, there is consternation on my continuing to work. Leave they say, while the going is good before you ruin it all by working in insipid films. Make your decision and retire and live life in rest and fulfillment. Damn if I shall rest. My rest shall be dependent on the desire of my body to continue or not, and not from some self indulgent sms from devoted fans. Dear lady of the sms, did you ever play an advisor when I struggled alone for work. Did you have any word of advice then. And why didn’t you. What circumstances do you find yourself in today, to suddenly become ‘this keeper of my brother’. I did not start because you told me to. I will not stop for the same reasons.

Hot chocolate and cookies at 41,ooo feet !! And sincere flight stewards from BA, never even wanting to drift by ‘jobsworth’. No sleep again in this long and arduous journey, but many healthy thoughts on what the book I was reading said and did. It is disturbing to read reports that belittle country and name. What is it about country and soil that evokes the highest emotion. Why and how does one get so protective of one’s own land and property. Nation and national first. All else after …

Even my good night to the EF … love as ever .. and ever

Amitabh Bachchan